Max Cleland: “I certainly understand the position of the Senators from Texas and California. They have worked long and hard on this…”

“I certainly understand the position of the Senators from Texas and California. They have worked long and hard on this issue. I understand where they are coming from. I congratulate the Senator from Oklahoma, Senator Inhofe, and others, who have worked just as hard to make sure this is a fair bill. The bill is consistent with the targets of the bipartisan budget agreement. On the major issues such as Bosnia, the B-2 bomber, and cooperative threat reduction, the bill is much closer to the Senate position than the House position. The most difficult issue to resolve in the conference was the depot maintenance provision. These provisions are the product of intense communication, diligent coordination and diplomatic negotiations of the issues to the fullest extent possible. We have actually been working on these issues some 9 months. We made numerous significant concessions in order to reach an agreement. In the final analysis, the major concessions were: We agreed to the Department of Defense request to continue free and open public-private competitions for the workloads at Kelly Air Force Base, TX, and McClellan Air Force Base, CA, with public-private partnerships. We agreed to the Department of Defense request to lower the 60-40 rule to 50-50. We agreed to the Department of Defense request to solicit a single contract for multiple workloads having been certified by the Secretary of Defense.”